Year 2004 is a Chinese Green Wooden Monkey Year. Why did the Chinese name
the year 2004 as the Green Monkey Year?Chinese calendar used the Stem-Branch system to count the days, months and years. There are 10 Stems and 12 Branches in
this system. Stems are named by the Yin-Yang and Five Elements (Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth). The Stem sequence order is Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire, Yang Earth, Yin Earth, Yang Metal, Yin Metal, Yang Water and Yin Water. Branches use the animal names.

The Branch sequence order is Rat, Cow,
Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog and Pig. Stem and Branch are used together to form a cycle of 60 counting systems which begin
with Wooden Rat and end with Water Pig. You can see the entire sequence from the Chinese New Year's page. From Year 1924 to 1983 is a complete cycle. Year 2004 is
Male Wooden Monkey , the 21st of the Stem-Branch in the system. Because Wood (Tree) is equivalent to color Green in the Five-Element system, Year 2004 is also called Green Monkey year.

Snake (2001), Horse (2002) and Sheep (2003) are the cycle of Fire years. The
cycle of Fire has already ended. The Monkey is the beginning of the Metal cycle.
This means that 2004 is a turning point for people whose lucky element is Metal.

Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year day is on January 22nd, 2004. Because this is
a new moon day, it is the first day of the first Chinese lunar month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar system. The new moon time is at
05:05 on 22-Jan-04 in China time zone. However, the new moon time is at 13:05 of
21-Jan-04 in the US Pacific Standard Time and also at 10:05 of
21-Jan-04 in the US Eastern Standard Time, so the Chinese New Year day is on
January 21st, 2004 for USA time zones.

In China, the first day of the Green Monkey Year is February 4th, 2004 in the Fortune-Telling Calendar system, because February 4th, 2004 is the first day of Tiger month and the Tiger month is the first month of a year in Chinese Fortune-Telling Calendar system.

In the Chinese Fortune-Telling calendar, the first day of the first month, Tiger month, is called "Start of Spring", which is when the sun enters
the 315th degree on the tropical zodiac. In the China time zone, the time of Start of Spring is at 02-04
19:56. So the first day of the Green Monkey year 2004 is on 04-Feb-03. For USA, the time of Start of Spring is on 02-03 at
03:56 PST, therefore the first day of 2004 Chinese astrology calendar in USA is
same to China time zone. If a baby was born on or after the Start of Spring, then she or he is a Green Monkey in the family.

The Year 2004 (Green Monkey) is the 4701st Chinese year. The Chinese believe that the first king of China was the Yellow King (he was not the
first emperor of China). The Yellow King became king in 2697 B.C., therefore China will enter the
4701st year on February 4th, 2004. Also, the Chinese Year uses the cycle of 60 Stem-Branch counting systems and the Green Monkey is the
21st Stem-Branch in the cycle. Since 4701 = (60 *78) + 21, therefore this Green Monkey Year is the
4701st Chinese Year.

Some web sites say the year 2004 is the 4702nd Chinese year. If you cannot find the explanation, here is a possible answer for you. The Yellow King's inauguration was held in the spring of 2697 B.C. But the calendar of Yellow King used the winter solstice day as the first day of the year. So the first winter solstice was on around December 23rd, 2698 B.C. Today's January 1st means nothing to Yellow King. If we count that extra eight days in 2698 B.C. for a year, then year 2004 is the 4702nd Chinese year.

2002 and 2003 were the years mixing Fire and Water, which are hostile each
other. Past two years weren't peaceful for many areas in the world. World
economics kept struggling for recovery. Many people worried about loosing their jobs. Basically, 2002 and 2003 are the cycle of Fire. Fire is the supporting element of Earth, any business something to do with to Fire or Earth had better luck during these years. For example, real estate (Earth) related business had a pretty good money luck in the past three years. The 2004 is the beginning of Metal cycle. Now it's the turn for the Metal business. Metal stands for gold, jewelry or money. Therefore the financial business will boom in these coming two years. You can see the mother nature is very fair. Everyone takes turn to share the luck.

The major elements in the Green Monkey are Wood and Metal. According to the Five Element Relationship, we know there is a conflict between Wood and Metal. So the disputes and arguments are there for many people in 2004. Fortunately, there
are some Water inside the Monkey. Water is the key to make Wood and Metal get
along peacefully. The reason is from Five Element relationships. Metal supports
Water. Water supports Wood. A Water person is a good friend of a Metal and a
Wood person. So Metal people and Wood people have the chance to shake hands. Water stands for wisdom in Chinese astrology. That means it always has a solution for the disagreement from Wood and Metal using your wisdom (Water) in 2004.

The prediction for people luck in this web site is using the Five Elements,
not the yearly animal sign you were born. So you
need to know your Lucky Element first
to follow the following explanation.

If your lucky element is Wood, then your luck is good in the beginning of the year. For example, your business or relationship with people will go well in the first half of
2004, the second half of 2004 will slow down the progress by some kind of
disagreement. If your lucky element is Metal, then you will have bad start and
struggle with your work or with people relationships, but the result will turn out
well in the end of year. Basically, many people have 50% luck in 2004. To know
if you have complete good luck, you need to study the Green Monkey relationship with your birth
chart using the Stem and Branch
relationships, which is not always easy.

You will be luckier in the first half of Green Monkey
year, especially in February and March. The luck will pause during the
summer and return in October and November. There is no strong lucky sign
in year 2004, because Monkey year is a Metal year and Wood (tree) won't
grow well under Metal. However, If Water is your second lucky element,
then December 2003 and November 2004 are the very good months to you. If Female Earth ,
is found in your birth chart, then your luck should reduce in half,
because Male Wood
in Year 2004 cannot concentrates on its duty when meeting Female Earth .

Fire

There is no Fire Element in the Green Monkey
year. That means no significant lucky sign is in year 2004. Monkey
is in the Metal group. Wood is the supporting element of Fire.
likes a Wood under Metal. The Wood cannot grow. But it's ready to chop for Fire
to burn. If
or
Fire element is found in your birth chart, then the Wood could bring you luck in 2004. The lucky months in 2004 are in May or June. The precursor month of Fire
are in January and February.

Earth

There is no Earth Element in the Green Monkey
year. That means no considerable lucky sign is in year 2004. However, if you find Female Earth
in your birth chart, then some good luck will come to you. This is because Male Wood
in Year 2204 always loves to stay with Female Earth. The people
relationships in business, dating, romance or marriage will improve, but
you won't get 100% satisfaction because of Monkey in the way. However, You
will have better result, if you find ,
and .
in the birth chart. April and May are the lucky months to you.

Metal

Metal is in the Green Monkey
year. So you should have good luck in 2004. Because Metal is extremely strong in the fall,
so August and September are the best months
for you in 2004. June and July of 2004 contains Metal too. That means luck
begins to grow from June. You luck will become significant, if Metal or
is found in your birth chart. However, bad experiences may happen if
your find both
and
in your birth chart and/or 10-year cycle. Usually, Tiger, Snake and Monkey
together bring bad luck to people.

Water

monkey is in the Metal group, but, contains some Water. So your luck is in
the second half of 2004. Your luck should increase, if
is found in your birth chart. If your can find both
and
in your birth chart and 10-year cycle, your luck will be very good, especially
if or
is found in your birth chart and/or 10-year cycle. Lucky months are from August to December.

However, if Water is
your unlucky element, then ,
and
would bring you big trouble.

What Will Happen To You?

The other way to know your luck in 2004, you need to know your Day Stem, Lucky
Element, and Unlucky Element from your Birth Chart first.
The Day Stem (The upper row of Day column in the birth chart) represents you in
the Chinese astrology system.

Lucky Elements and Unlucky
Elements

This web site tells people's Lucky Element and direct people to the bright side
of the life. We don't have a heart to tell people the bad new about their unlucky
elements on the web site. The unlucky element might be the element with the
highest score in the birth chart. Also, it could be the element having the Enmity
relationship with the lucky element.

If the lucky element is Wood, then your unlucky element might be Metal or Earth
with higher score. (Earth supports Metal)

If the lucky element is Fire, then your unlucky element might be Water or Metal
with higher score. (Metal supports Water)

If the lucky element is Earth, then your unlucky element might be Wood or Water
with higher score. (Water supports Wood)

If the lucky element is Metal, then unlucky element might be Fire or Wood
with higher score. (Wood supports Fire)

If the lucky element is Water, then unlucky element might be Earth or Fire
with higher score. (Fire supports Earth)

If you are not quite sure about your Lucky Element, then
you still can know what might happen to you in 2004 using the theory of Five
Stars, which are the Companion Star, Child Star, Money Star, Career Star and Parent Star.

If the Five Stars are applied to a yearly cycle, we can know something will happen in that year.